George Vanderbilt, grandson of famed shipping entrepreneur and industrialist Cornelius “the Commodore” Vanderbilt, first visited Asheville, North Carolina, in 1888. Captivated by the area’s natural beauty, he slowly began purchasing land, ending up with 125,000 acres for what would become his country estate, Biltmore Estate. Determined to make this a self-sustaining home, George enlisted architect Richard Morris Hunt to design and build the 250-room château. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted was also hired to create formal gardens and transform the former farmland into a beautiful pastoral landscape.

Source: Biltmore